In “Reflections on the Concept of Discourse Community”, by John Swales, he describes what a discourse

community is and the different parts of them as well. As stated, a discourse community is a “group of
people who share a set of discourses, understood as basic values and assumptions, and ways of
communicating about their goals.” Swales presents six different characteristics of a discourse community
which include having the same goals, having a specific type of communication, receiving and processing
feedback, using different genres in communication (events of communication), using your own lingo and
a hierarchy. There also three different types of discourse communities which include, Local, Focal and
“Folocal.” Local is described as a “grouping of people who all work at the same place (as in a factory or a
university department), or at the same occupation in the same area (all the bakers in a town).” Focal is the
opposite of Local, it is a “associations of some kind that reach across a region, a nation, and
internationally. They may be informal groupings or more formal ones with rules, elections and paid
memberships.” Folocal is a combo of both Local and Focal. As described as “hybrid communities whose
members have a double—and sometimes split—allegiance, as they are confronted by internal and external
challenges and pressures.”
My discourse community is being on the Cal Poly softball team. We all share the same goals which
include, winning conference and going to postseason. We also all communicate with each other through
team group chats with each other, us freshmen, with coaches and different positions. As a sport we also
review our games and practices through film we have. Our coaches send us our individual film of us
hitting and fielding and we analyze what we did well and what we did wrong so we can in prove as
individuals and as a whole. We also use our own type of lingo and phrases like, “in the hole”, “on deck”,
“roll it up” and “EYT.” Lastly as a team we have a hierarchy, which starts at underclassmen (freshmen &
sophomores) to upperclassmen (juniors & seniors) and the top dog is our Coach.